The
Minstrel Tradition and its Influence on Musical Theatre 1820’s to 1870’s
By
Michael
Moor.MA
The early minstrel shows represent a uniquely American
development in musical theatre. It is clear with hindsight that the minstrel
tradition could not have developed in any other country. For it was indirectly
a result of the American slave system.
There were
basically two methods or systems of slavery, the French and the American.
The French slave system favored literally working the
slaves to death. Slaves were
expected to live 5 or 6 years, after which they were simply replaced. This
system was used for example in Haiti. Where it was literally cheaper for a
plantation owner to buy new slaves every 5or 6 years fresh from Africa, rather
than invest in ‘humane conditions’ for the long term upkeep of the slaves.
As a result the Haitian culture
remains closer to its African roots. A
good example of this is the strong Voodoo
tradition that is traceable to specific regions in Africa; the word itself is
from an African word Vodun. (1)
In contrast to the French model the American system of
slavery favored the keeping and breeding of slaves rather like cattle. Certain
men were even selected to ‘stud’ rather like prize bulls. The American system ultimately resulted in a ‘slave-culture’.
Particularly on the plantations of the Southern States.
Isolated and kept in ignorance the slaves soon
developed their own distinct, often-naïve beliefs myths, legends, cultures
and conventions. These varied from district to district or even from
plantation to plantation. However as slaves were on occasion transferred or
re-sold certain myths or beliefs traveled and became what we might call common
beliefs or conventions amongst the slave culture.
Singing
was perhaps the only cultural pursuit granted the slaves as it was a generally
held view that productivity in field labor could be increased by the simple
expedience of allowing the slave to sing.
Slavery was abolished in the Northern States during the
1787-1804 period but persisted in the South until the Emancipation
Proclamation in 1863.
The actual beginnings of what we might call a minstrel
tradition are rather vague. One school of thought suggests that black
Americans sang in the streets of New York, Philadelphia and other Eastern
cities as early as the American Revolution (1776) and were well established
street entertainers by the early 19th century.
Another school of thought suggests that the origins lay in the South.
This school of thought suggests that plantation slaves
formed impromptu groups and were asked to perform in the Masters House and for
other slaves. Sometimes these groups of performers were invited to other
plantations to perform. Both
suggestions have plausibility. Runaway
slave notices from the 18th century can help indicate, amongst
other things, the musical skills of African Americans during this period.
Boston
Gazette 8th July 1745: Ran-away from Capt. Joseph Hale of Newbury, a Negro
Man named Cato, the 6th instant, about 22years of age, short and
small, speaks good English and can read and write, understands farming work.
Carry’d with him a striped homespun Jacket and breeches………sometimes
wears a black wig. Has a smooth face, a sly look. Took with a violin and can
play well thereon….Whoever shall bring said Negro to his master …shall
have five Pounds reward and all necessary charges paid by me. Joseph Hale.
However it
was not a black artist that popularized the minstrel or began what we know as
the minstrel tradition.
Thomas
Dartmouth Rice-the father of minstrelsy
T.D Rice was not the first white performer to put on a black face (of
burned cork) to imitate blacks. (Charles Matthews according to Robert C. Toll
in his book Blacking Up was the
first in 1822.) However T.D Rice was the first great success and in his way, a
theatrical innovator.
His famous ‘Jump Jim Crow’ turn was originally part of a show called
‘The Rifle’ by Solon Robinson in which he played a ‘Kentucky Cornfield
Negro’. Rice is reputed to have based the character on an old crippled black
man he had seen performing (a song and dance, the Jim Crow) on the street.
Rice’s original creation wore old ragged clothes, as the old man in the
street had done. The song was an immediate success and often had to be
repeated during performances. Julian
Mates in his book America’s Musical
Stage (p.76 and 78) stress’s that the key to his success is that Rice
‘imitated’ rather than ‘exaggerated’ the movements and songs of the
American blacks. He suggests that exaggeration and ridicule came later.
(However it must be said that this kind of assertion would be contested by a
good many black scholars. It
could be strongly argued that ‘Jim Crow’ was from the outset a caricature
within the framework of the original production ‘The Rifle’. It would be
hard to argue that the part of a ‘Kentucky Cornfield Negro’ in the late
1820’s written by whites could have been anything else but a caricature,
seen as or resulting in ridicule. This was a time of widespread slavery. Given
this fact it is hard to accept the suggestion that there was any element of
‘respect’ in the imitation of blacks by T.D Rice or anyone else.
The best that can be suggested is that the imitation was a kind of
theatrical device that developed into a stereotype. That it was well done
simply made the device affective! )
Jim Crow soon established Rice as one of the leading entertainers of his
era. Rice in fact made a career out of Jim Crow.
The lyrics and structure of the ‘turn’ gave Rice great flexibility.
He was able to incorporate local gossip or issues into the song and
after each verse and chorus he would do the Jim Crow dance, which we can
suggest, was in the tradition of the ‘eccentric dance’. A very simple but
effective formula in the hands of a charismatic performer.
So I
wheel about
I
turn about
I
do just so
And
ebry time I wheel about
I jump Jim Crow!
On a
visit to New York he would add
Broadway is a pretty place
And de Battery has de bench
All for to commodate
De handsome nigger wench
So I wheel about
I turn about
I do just so…
Jim Crow could also make political comments or simply boast.
Oh Jim Crow struck a man
His name I forgot
But dar was nothing left
But a little grease spot
So I wheel about
I turn about
I do just so..
Rice
went on to write ‘extravaganzas’ and took advantage of his comic creation
by incorporating him into them, for example ‘Jim Crow in London’ or ‘Jim
Crow in Foreign Service’
Preserved
in the New York Public Library is the manuscript of one of Rice’s works ‘Othello’.
Othello is typical of the extravaganza that was to form a central part
of the minstrel show. It is in one act with seven scenes and a note at the end
of the manuscript suggests the performance lasted 1hr and 20mins.
Music serves as a background to the entrance of various characters, a
technique borrowed from the melodramas of the period. The dialogue is modeled
on Shakespeare’s but spoken with a Negro dialect for comic effect.
Rice also adapts tunes of the day by simply changing the lyrics to suit
his needs. To the tune of ‘Ginger Blue Othello sings:
Her fader lubed me well
And he say to me one day
Otello won’t you come wid me and dine
As I whar rader sharp set
Why, berry well I say..
Furthermore
when one notes that a raccoon hide towel is substituted for Othello’s
handkerchief and that Desdemona was played by a man (as all the female parts
in a minstrel show were at the time) we see not only the possibility for
additional humor but also a development towards musical comedy. The parodying
of serious works of opera and drama were to become a feature of a number of
minstrel shows (The musical comedy parodying of Shakespeare would reach a high
point with Kiss me Kate)
Rice
was a single variety act that developed into the beginnings of a theatrical
form. Rice’s other contribution is that he did collect authentic Negro songs
and dances and popularized them. Thus fusing black and white forms to create a
uniquely American form. Jim Crow
was certainly All-American and could not have been created anywhere else.
Jim Crow can be seen as the forerunner of any number of black
theatrical characters including ‘Joe’ from the landmark musical Showboat. Others soon
copied, often with less skill, the Rice model. One such work
from the period was Old Zip Coon. Zip
Coon was a ‘dandy’ Northern Negro again reputedly drawn from life and was
developed in later years.
(See;
Odell, C.D (1927) Annals of the New York Stage: Columbia University Press
The Virginia Minstrels: 1843
Daniel
Decatur Emmett, Frank Brower, Bill Whitlock and Dick Pelham
These four men represented a development from the minstrel show as
between the acts entertainment offered by Rice (as an individual act or his
extravaganzas as an after piece) to that of a complete minstrel show.
These men worked as an ensemble, each assigned a specific role; each
dressed in a distinctive costume and each playing a characteristic instrument.
Together putting on a complete show. Early
Features of these shows would be a lecture on some current topic or event,
delivered in dialect and filled with puns and mal-aprops.
The songs were linked with and at times interrupted by dialect
conversation. There was also an emphasis on singing and playing a musical
instrument at the same time.
E.P. Christy and his Ethiopian Minstrels,
from the same period are associated with developing the loud costumes, the
semi-circular line up and the ‘walk around’. The ‘walk around’ became
a traditional end of the first act. It was basically an ensemble finale
performed in a semi circle, where each performer stepped out to perform his
specialty in the center.
By the 1860’s the minstrel shows had developed into something
resembling Vaudeville with literally
hundreds of minstrel companies. New York, already the theater capitol had by
1860 had around ten theaters playing exclusively minstrel shows all year
round. However more importantly minstrel shows were touring the US often
following the ‘gold rushes’ playing in saloons and the like, shaping
American popular tastes.
Some companies featured full orchestras. The Arlington Minstrels of the period for example boasted “75
first class artists” plus a ten-piece concert band and a “matchless
orchestra”.
As the minstrel shows grew larger and more popular some became more
ambitious in their burlesque. Reaching a high point with the burlesque of
Grand Opera. For example Buckley’s
Serenaders stressed the fact in their bills that the music of the Operas
travestied was genuine. The “Negro
interpolations and intercullations
” were to “drive away the dullness
of too close a observance of the original
text.” Contemporary reviews suggest the standard of singing was rather
good.
Minstrel shows were also carried by the circuses of the period.
Minstrel performers began to write their own songs Buffalo Galls, won’t you come out to-night; is an early example
from 1844, and indeed many songs from the ‘gold rush’ years came from the
pens of minstrel performers.
The variety aspect came to dominate the minstrel shows and ultimately
developed into Vaudeville. However the minstrel tradition lived on in
Vaudeville with white performers such as Al Jolson still donning black face to
perform songs and routines. The
minstrel tradition was also a strong theme in the story line of Showboat. The
Floating Palace, which toured the Mississippi in the 1850’s and 60’s,
was one such showboat. It was 250ft long and provided both a circus ring and
an auditorium for the minstrel show.
The minstrel shows were a very wide-ranging and adaptable conceit both
geographically and dramatically. Encompassing the universal concerns of opera
and classical drama as well as specific contemporary and local issues or
events with its combination of song, music, drama and dance. The minstrel show
could work with 4 or 400 performers and still fundamentally be a minstrel
show.
The minstrel shows paved the way for vaudeville the revue and
ultimately the American Musical.
However ironic it may seem
they also opened the theatrical doors for black American performers. They
popularized ‘black music’ and amalgamated white and black music forms.
They also cultivated audience’s musical tastes in a way that would pave the
way for jazz, ‘tin pan alley’ and the popular song.
Whilst the minstrel shows opened the door for black performers (from around the mid 1850’s) they also stereo- typed them. Black performers were forced into the ridiculous position of imitating whites imitating blacks, to the point where some black performers even used ‘burned cork’. The black minstrel troops tended to play the less reputable theaters. However it was an opening that was previously denied them and some legendary black performers were given their training on the black minstrel circuit, these included the remarkable jazz singer Bessie Smith.